"Although I have disabilities, I also have my abilities" -- Jennifer Adams, Ms. Wheelchair America

View full sizeMs. Wheelchair America, Jennifer Adams of Washington state, and Ms. Wheelchair Alabama, Minister Paula Montgomery Rodney of Huntsville, Ala., seated at center right, join new friends at The ARC's Lowe Center, a day center for adults with disabilities, for a group photo on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. Adams will be the keynote speaker for The Ability Ball, organized by Montgomery Rodney, that will be in Huntsville on Friday, Nov. 8, 2013.(Kay Campbell | KCampbell@AL.com)

Tickets, $25, for The Ability Ball, a fundraiser for MS, The Shepard Center and other charities, are available through Friday at TheAbilityBall.com. The Ability Ball will be held in Huntsville's Roundhouse at the Historic Huntsville Depot, 320 Church St. N.W.

The Ability Ball is organized by Paula Montgomery Rodney, a minister at Union Hill Primitive Baptist Church and founder and CEO of Yendora Advocacy Group. Montgomery Rodney, who was confined by MS to a wheelchair in 2005, is Ms. Wheelchair Alabama 2014. She and Adams met in July during the national competition for women who are willing to be a spokesperson for the abilities and the needs of people who use wheelchairs.

The two women visited Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 4 and 5, 2013, with clients at The ARC's day centers for adults with disabilities.

"I understand what it feels like to have a barrier to education and to work," Jennifer Adams said in her brief remarks to the center's clients. "Keep working at what you are good at. You were born to shine!"

Adams, who was born with partial limbs, was adopted at birth by parents who also adopted five other children with special needs. Her parents, Adams said, were able to help local school officials understand the new laws that guaranteed that she and her siblings could, in fact, be accommodated in the local public schools of their little town in rural Washington State.

"I'm really thankful I live on the other side of ADA," Adams said, referring to the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, which mandates handicapped parking, ramps, bathrooms and other access alterations to public buildings. "Having a career or traveling is already challenging. It would have been nearly impossible before."

Adams will be speaking in Chattanooga Wednesday to a gymnasium full of middle schoolers about how important it is to understand the power of their words. Growing up so obviously different from the children around her, since her legs are very short and only one of her arms, with a thumb at the end, can be used for most tasks, Adams knows what it's like to survive bullying and name-calling. And she knows that the encouragement from her parents and teachers is what helped her thrive.

"That's why my platform, as Ms. Wheelchair America, is 'Inclusion Revolution,'" Adams said. "Although I have disabilities, I also have my abilities. I'm trying to remind people to look at the abilities of others, not their disabilities."